Skate with length adjustment mechanism

ABSTRACT

A skate comprises a sole plate including an elongate groove through either downward extended wall, and a boot assembly including a heel portion and a toe portion including a rear elongate slot on either side, two fasteners inserted through heel portion and slots for coupling toe and heel portions together and for permitting slots to slide about fasteners within a distance defined by a length of slot, two opposite elongate projections on a bottom each having a length equal to that of slot, a fastening member for securing toe portion and sole plate, and a lever hinged to fastening device. Lever is outwardly pivoted to unfasten fastening member prior to pulling toe portion, and in response slots slide the same about fasteners, thereby moving toe portion relative to sole plate for adjusting the skate length.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to skates and more particularly toan in line skate with length adjustment mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A conventional skate (e.g., an in line skate shown in FIG. 1)comprises a plurality of tandem wheels 1 on the bottom, a boot 2, aninsole 3, and a plurality of buckles 4 for fastening the skate. However,a drawback of the previous design is that there is no provision oflength adjustment mechanism. Hence, a pair of suitable skates worn byone child may be unusable next year due to the growth (particularly thelength) of feet of the child. This may necessitate parents to buy a pairof new skates. In view of above, it is disadvantageous due to the extraspending of buying skates. Further, it is not wise to either discard theold skates or store the same.

[0003] Thus, it is desirable to provide a skate with length adjustmentmechanism in order to overcome the above drawback of prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide askate comprising a sole plate including two opposite walls downwardextended from front sides and an elongate groove through either wall;and a boot assembly including a heel portion having a hole on eitherside and a toe portion including a rear elongate slot on either side,two fasteners inserted through the holes and the slots for coupling thetoe portion and the heel portion together and for permitting the slotsto slide about the fasteners within a distance defined by a length ofthe slot, two opposite elongate projections on a bottom each having alength equal to that of the slot, two transverse apertures through theprojections, a fastening member driven through the apertures and thegrooves and secured to one of the projections, and a lever hinged to thefastening device; wherein in an adjustment of a length of the skate, thelever is outwardly pivoted to unfasten the fastening member prior topulling the toe portion either forward or rearward, in response theslots slide either forward or rearward about the fasteners, therebymoving the toe portion with respect to the sole plate, and fasten thefastening member by inwardly pivoting the lever until being stopped theother projection.

[0005] The above and other objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention will become apparent from the following detaileddescription taken with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing major components of aconventional skate;

[0007]FIG. 2 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of skate accordingto the invention;

[0008]FIG. 3 is an exploded view of FIG. 2;

[0009]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;and

[0010]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5, there is shown a skate (e.g., an inline skate) constructed in accordance with the invention comprising asole plate 11, a plurality of tandem wheels 15 on the bottom of soleplate 11, a boot consisting of a toe portion 12, a heel portion 13releasably coupled to (or integral with) sole plate 11, and a tendonguard 31 having two lower side holes 32, an insole, a rear elongate slot16 on either side of toe portion 12, a hole 14 on either side of heelportion 13, two pins 17 inserted through holes 14, slots 16, and holes32 for coupling toe portion 12, a heel portion 13, and tendon guard 31together and for permitting slots 16 to slide about pins 17, the slidingdistance being defined by the length of slot 16, two opposite elongateprojections 18 on the bottom of toe portion 12, a first toothed section10 on either side of the front portion of sole plate 11, an elongategroove 19 through each first toothed section 10, the length of groove 19equal to that of slot 16, two transverse apertures 20 throughprojections 18, a fastening device 21 driven through apertures 20 andgrooves 19 to be secured by a nut-like member 23 (or a nut-like member23 having a peripheral flange 24), a lever 25 coupled to fasteningdevice 21 by a hinge 251, an open channel 26 on an outer side of theprojection 18 having a stop 27 therein for fastening lever 25 when hinge251 is urged against one projection 18, and a second toothed section 22on each projection 18 meshed with the first toothed sections 10 forenhancing the engagement of toe portion 12 and sole plate 11.

[0012] Referring to FIG. 2 specifically, in the process of increasingthe length of skate, firstly user has to unfasten the fastening device21 by sequentially disengaging lever 25 from stop 27 and outwardlypivoting lever 25 about hinge 251. Then user may pull toe portion 12forward. In response, slots 16 slide forward about pins 17 until thepulling is stopped. As a result, toe portion 12 moves with respect tosole plate 11 (i.e., the length of skate is increased). After a desiredlength of skate is obtained, user may fasten the fastening device 21again by inwardly pivoting lever 25 about hinge 251 to urge hinge 251against one projection 18 and snapping lever 25 to stop 27 sequentially.

[0013] While the invention has been described by means of specificembodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made theretoby those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spiritof the invention set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A skate comprising: a sole plate including twoopposite walls downward extended from front sides and an elongate groovethrough either wall; and a boot assembly including a heel portion havinga hole on either side and a toe portion including a rear elongate sloton either side, two fasteners inserted through the holes and the slotsfor coupling the toe portion and the heel portion together and forpermitting the slots to slide about the fasteners within a distancedefined by a length of the slot, two opposite elongate projections on abottom each having a length equal to that of the slot, two transverseapertures through the projections, a fastening member driven through theapertures and the grooves and secured to one of the projections, and alever hinged to the fastening device; wherein in an adjustment of alength of the skate, the lever is outwardly pivoted to unfasten thefastening member prior to pulling the toe portion either forward orrearward, in response the slots slide either forward or rearward aboutthe fasteners, thereby moving the toe portion with respect to the soleplate, and fasten the fastening member by inwardly pivoting the leveruntil being stopped the other projection.
 2. The skate of claim 1,wherein the skate is mounted with a plurality of wheels.
 3. The skate ofclaim 2, wherein the wheels are tandem.
 4. The skate of claim 1, furthercomprising a tendon guard having two lower side holes with the fastenerssecured therein.
 5. The skate of claim 1, further comprising an openchannel on an outer side of the other projection and a stop in thechannel for fastening the lever when the lever is urged against theother projection.
 6. The skate of claim 1, further comprising a nut-likemember having a peripheral flange for securing the fastening member toone projection.
 7. The skate of claim 1, wherein the sole plate furthercomprises a first toothed section on either wall and the toe portionfurther comprises a second toothed section on either projection meshedwith the first toothed section.